Pastimes of faculty and staff

What do we do when we're not here in the Global and International Studies Building?  We thought it might be nice to find out, so we asked. And got some interesting tidbits from faculty and grad students alike. 

Did you know that …

Fritz Breithaupt is an avid birdwatcher who loves going out to spot the rare migratory birds in nearby swamps…

Gergana May sings with the Eastern European Ensemble, which performs at local venues and beyond unique renditions of folk music from the Balkans. From the slow love songs to the fast and furious dance tunes, their repertoire includes music from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia & more (see photo in slideshow).

Chris Sapp is a huge fan of home improvement—not the old TV show, but the activity! Last spring break, he and his daughter designed and built a treehouse (see photo in slideshow), and they added to it over the summer with some material salvaged from neighbors' old tree houses. 

Nikole Langjahr has been "ferociously crocheting - a couple of blankets, some scarves, but mostly beanies, dozens of beanies. Some I've given away as gifts, some I've sold… Some people have started baking bread during the pandemic, I drown my covid stress in yarn and the beautiful structure of predictable patterns."

Susanne Even has been busy as a community activist on accessibility, "making the city repair and lower the sidewalks on Covenanter between S College Mall Road and Auto Mall Road with the argument that it is a fundamental right for every citizen on a scooter (with and without service dog) to reach a grocery store without being run over."  She is also part of a "gang of women with mobility issues who work with the Council on Accessibility and the Monroe Public Library on a Mobility Aid Lending Library, where canes, crutches, walkers, rollators, scooters, and wheelchairs that are not used anymore can be made available to people who need them free of charge."

Maria Fink has become an accomplished home baker "venturing into the fine craft of baking sourdough bread" and more recently began perfecting "Kaisersemmerl" and "Mohnflesserl".   Yum!

Emmet Baumgarten finds solace and satisfaction in pottery. "The art is particularly satisfying in how directly connected to (and at the mercy of) the raw materials you are. Even those who "master" it are still foiled by irregularities in the clay, or the chaos of the kiln from time to time." 

Rachel Lulich sings in a church choir, volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol, and writes and publishes books (one coming out December 7th).

Elaine Dalida collects Disney pins (and sometimes other enamel pins). She tells us that there are many thousands of variously themed Disney pins out there that you can probably build a small collection based on almost any subject you might be interested in. One of her subjects is Germanic-themed pins.